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. . . as many of the same things could be said about members of the Left -- yet they don't seem to engage in THESE behaviors. . To paint them all as pointy-headed ignoramuses (though, of course... MANY of them seem to be :rofl:) is too easy -- and I think it would be turning a blind eye to the REASONS behind these chain emails -- much the same as the people behind and fascinated/convinced by them turn a blind eye to other truths. . . . It's far deeper and broader than that... and remember, when it started, it really had absolutely nothing to do with politics, so to dismiss it as simply a political phenomenon would be to deny its roots -- deny core similarities -- deny what I believe is a desire to control, to have ANY sort of effect, a desire to counteract feelings of impotence and ineffectiveness -- all sorts of factors at play here -- boiling down to individual neuroses and insufficiencies playing out on a mass level. . . . I think the role it plays NOW is mostly political (when's the last time you got one of these about poor Johnny's dying wish to have his email go "around the globe"?), but it's still the SAME thing in a different outfit. I think the impulse and the motivations and the causes of these things are rooted in the same things that have ALWAYS given birth to them. . . . But my conjectures are no more than that. This is a HUGE social phenomenon -- and I'm still wondering if there's any serious research, theorization, or conclusions... and if not, why the hell not? . . .
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